Character and Greatness of Winston Churchill , livre ebook

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118 pages

English

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Winston Churchill was one of the most extraordinary leaders of the twentieth century. What enabled him to stand so steadfastly when all those around him seemed to turn back in fear? What enabled him to inspire whole nations to endure the unendurable and to achieve the unachievable when all those around him had already surrendered all hope? The Character and Greatness of Winston Churchill is a remarkable study of Churchill's leadership skill and answers these questions and more. The result is an account that is no less inspiring today than it was three-quarters of a century ago when the great man's shadow fell large across the world stage. According to Henry Kissinger, "Our age finds it difficult to come to grips with Churchill. The political leaders with whom we are familiar generally aspire to be superstars rather than heroes. The distinction is crucial. Superstars strive for approbation; heroes walk alone. Superstars crave consensus; heroes define themselves by the ... future they see it as their task to bring about. Superstars seek success as a technique for eliciting support; heroes pursue success as the outgrowth of their inner values." Winston Churchill was a hero.

Sujets

Histoire

Stephen Mansfield

Prime minister

Great Britain

History

Winston Churchill

Europe

Informations

Publié par	Turner Publishing Company
Date de parution	01 septembre 2004
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781684422883
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0848€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

THE
Character
and Greatness of
WINSTON
CHURCHILL
Also by Stephen Mansfield
Then Darkness Fled: The Liberating Wisdom of Booker T. Washington
Forgotten Founding Father: The Heroic Legacy of George Whitefield
The Faith of George W. Bush
The Faith of the American Soldier
Benedict XVI: His Life and Mission
The Faith of Barack Obama
The Search for God and Guinness
Lincoln s Battle with God
Killing Jesus
Mansfield s Book of Manly Men
THE
Character
and Greatness of
WINSTON
CHURCHILL
HERO IN A TIME OF CRISIS
STEPHEN MANSFIELD

C UMBERLAND H OUSE N ASHVILLE , T ENNESSEE
T HE C HARACTER AND G REATNESS OF W INSTON C HURCHILL :
H ERO IN A T IME OF C RISIS
P UBLISHED BY C UMBERLAND H OUSE P UBLISHING , I NC .
431 Harding Industrial Drive
Nashville, Tennessee 37211
Copyright 1995, 2004 by Stephen Mansfield
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except for brief quotations in critical reviews and articles.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the King James Version ( KJV ). Scripture quotations marked ( NIV ) are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
Previously published as a volume in the Leaders in Action series as Never Give In: The Extraordinary Character of Winston Churchill .
Cover design by Gore Studio, Nashville, Tennessee
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mansfield, Stephen, 1958-
[Never give in]
The character and greatness of Winston Churchill : hero in a time of crisis / Stephen Mansfield.
p. cm.
Originally published as: Never give in, 1996.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-63026-290-7
1. Churchill, Winston, Sir, 1874-1965-Psychology. 2. Great Britain-Politics and government-20th century. 3. Prime ministers-Great Britain-Biography. 4. Political leadership. I. Title.
DA566.9.C5M273 2004
941.084 092-dc22
2004011110
Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10-08 07 06 05 04
To
R ONALD W ILSON R EAGAN
Statesman, Warrior, Hero
(1911-2004)
Contents
Foreword by George Grant
Introduction
Chronology
P ART 1: T HE C HARACTER OF C HURCHILL S L EADERSHIP
Prologue
A Stage Set for Heroes
The Drama Begins
Childhood: Lonely But Not Alone
Harrow and Sandhurst
Cutting the Ties of Youth
The Anvil of India
The Pen and the Sword
The South African War
Principles and Politics
World War I: The Dardanelles Disaster
The Age of Political Turmoil
The Years of the Locusts
The Gathering Storm
Walking with Destiny
The Wilderness Again
Final Battles
P ART 2: T HE P ILLARS OF C HURCHILL S L EADERSHIP
His Father
Self-Education
Courage
Action
The Bible
Destiny
Marriage
Criticism
Change
Duty
Family
History
Realism
Humor
Character
Self-Examination
The Mastery of Self
Compassion
Home
Poetry of Life
Rest
The Written Word
The Spoken Word
Work
Religion
Loyalty
Heritage
Wilderness
Future
Death
P ART 3: T HE L EGACY OF C HURCHILL S L EADERSHIP
The Long Shadow
The Faith of Churchill
The Pillars of Greatness
The Lessons of Leadership
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Foreword
T HE GREAT Scottish author and statesman John Buchan once wrote, History is neither science nor philosophy, though it enlists both in its service; but it is indisputably an art. Indeed, as a reconstruction of the past, history demands precisely the qualities that we look for in a good novel.
History is, after all, primarily a story. Thus it ought to have the swiftness and cohesion of a page-turning narrative. It ought to have drama so that the sequence of events may be shown to issue in some great moment. At the same time it ought not be encumbered with melodrama. The great moment must not appear as an isolated and fantastic crisis but rather linked to a long chain of causes inspired by certain protagonists and antagonists. And of course those protagonists and antagonists ought to be somehow made to live again with something of their original vigor so as to make them recognizable to us as fellow human beings.
Particularly when history is viewed through the focused lens of biography, the past ought not be a mere sketch in pen and ink, after the fashion of our minor modern moralists. Instead, it ought to be a snapshot with all the shades and halftones of our common life in this poor fallen world. It ought to thus capture for us a sense of the main character of the main character.
Because we live in an age when heroes are few and far between, this kind of even-keeled approach to historical biography is all the more essential. We don t need any more fabulous hagiographies-unrealistic literary icons of unapproachable saints. And we don t need any more Freudian expos s-psychological analyses of debunked champions. Instead, we need honest portrayals of those men and women who have gone before us, who have marked out a pathway of faithfulness and valor through the extraordinary obstacles of ordinary life. We need real-life examples. We need to catch a glimpse of leadership in action.
Stephen Mansfield succeeds admirably at giving us this very kind of book. His prose is vigorous, his historical sensibility is keen, and his clear-headed soberness is unswerving. He displays a very evident artist s touch-without neglecting either science or philosophy. Though his subject, the valiant virtue of Winston Churchill, might tend to loom larger than life in the hands of a lesser writer, he manages to stay firmly planted on terra firma. The result is an inspiring account of a very great man s legacy of leadership. But it is simultaneously an intimate account of a very normal man s persistence in principle.
There is a kind of romance manifest in these pages. But it is that unsentimental sort of romance that is the peculiar fruit of wisdom: a full appreciation of what is without the imaginative gloss of what isn t. It is therefore with great pleasure that I introduce this book as both a passionate example of the artist s vision and an edifying example of the academician s understanding.
Stephen Mansfield has given us a heady dose of encouragement precisely because he has fully realized in the life of Churchill the fact that leadership is a vocation best nurtured on the medicine of mundanity and the potion of providence. And he has done it with all the zest and adventurousness of a novelist. For that we can all be thankful.
-George Grant
Introduction
I OFTEN replay in my mind imaginary conversations with the great men and women of history. In these fanciful dialogues-which for some mysterious reason are set late at night in my favorite restaurant-I find myself eventually winding around to the appropriate moment for asking, What is it that made you great? Echoing back in my imagination are answers far from those I would expect, for I do not hear my companions reply I was a great king, or I was the unsurpassed genius of my age, or I was a skillful leader in the decisive events of my day. Instead, I hear them answer with gentle determination, I believed in certain eternal principles, or I had, through suffering and difficulty, acquired a level of character that enabled me to shape my generation, or I saw the problems of my day from a unique perspective which I knew could help solve them. It is greatness viewed in this light, imaginary or not, which is the only justification for this book, yet another study on the life of Winston Churchill.
One would think that Churchill s life had been by now thoroughly examined from every possible perspective. The painstaking labors of Martin Gilbert, Churchill s official biographer, have alone produced volumes of biography, official papers, and parallel lives. In addition, the recent work of William Manchester in The Last Lion , of Norman Rose in his Churchill: An Unruly Life , and even of critics like John Charmley in Churchill: The End of Glory have each added exhaustive research and invaluable insight to the already solid canon of Churchill studies.
What is intended here, though, is not at all the comprehensive analysis provided by these esteemed authors, but rather an attempt to answer the question, What has Churchill to say to a new generation of leaders? In other words, in view of all the wonderful literature on Churchill s life-the psychological treatises, the political investigations, the adoring reminiscences-how are we to understand him so as to attempt in our own time what might be called a Churchillian brand of leadership.
This is not too much to ask, particularly when we consider the primary purpose of historical research throughout the centuries. For most of Western history the study of the past was part of the field of moral philosophy. Men studied history primarily to discern the ways of Providence and acquire wisdom for their age. Far from the abstract, ivory-tower approach so prevalent in our schools, the study of history was then considered eminently practical, and men expected to live differently for the time they spent in the far-off country of the past.
Certainly, on the matter of leadership Churchill has much to say to the present generation. His words, though, would undoubtedly cut across most current dogma and pop philosophy on the subject. For Churchill, leadership was more than what is revealed in academic transcripts, psychological test scores, or polished r sum s. Books on dressing for success, guides to the one minute or add water and stir varieties of leadership, and seminars that stress image management have no place in a Churchillian philosophy. Instead, for Churchill, leadership was primarily about eternal values, the civilizations